Edmonton Notes for 9/27/2008

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed an increasing amount of Edmonton-focused content. I didn’t wake up one morning and say “self, you need to post more about Edmonton” – it just sort of happened. I’ve always said that I blog for myself first, so I just write about whatever I am interested in. Lately, that seems to be my hometown. I’m still passionate about technology and entrepreneurship and my other favorite topics – I’m just adding some local flavor into the mix!

I’ve been tweeting about Edmonton more too. The Edmonton Twitter community continues to grow and I make an effort to follow all the newcomers. If you’re having trouble grokking Twitter, I’d suggest following people who live near you – you’ll get more out of it that way. Here in Edmonton, many of us make use of the #yeg hashtag. For example, I use it to post links to interesting articles or news related to the city.

The great thing about Twitter is that it’s “almost live”. You can use it to have a conversation. The problem with that is that it doesn’t make for a very good archive. I post lots of things that I find interesting each week, but unless you’re paying attention, it’s very easy to miss them.

To solve that problem and to help me keep track of things, I’ve decided to start doing a regular “Edmonton Notes” post every Saturday. I hope you find it useful!

Late Tuesday evening the City of Edmonton launched its new website design. There are still some bugs and kinks to work out, but I like the design refresh. Much of the work was done by local firm Yellow Pencil.

A new winter festival called Winter Lights: A Celebration of Edmonton’s Winter Spirit is being proposed. If approved, the event could happen in early 2009 with a preliminary budget of $450,000.

Council is also considering a plan to require outdoor festivals held on city property to be more environmentally friendly. It could go into effect for Summer 2009.